Sunday, October 28, 2012

I can't help myself....

(What's that Ben Huh site where you are supposed to post these kinds of things?)

How We Wished We Sounded On The Radio

A close up all the stuff that accumulates on the chart table after being at anchor for a while, along with some audio featuring the lilting tones of our kids' friend, Zoe, on the radio.  Zoe is calling her parents from our boat.  We'd trade our American accent for a South African accent in a heartbeat!


Saturday, October 20, 2012

Christmas in October

It is Christmas in October for Blue Kai, although that's a bit of an exaggeration because we didn't actually want to spend money on new batteries or a stove. (Our old stove couldn't get hot enough to bake well, and you are in trouble out here if you have a kid who can't eat gluten and you can't bake.)

Below is a picture of the first baked goods from the oven (ironically, they are a little over-cooked because I didn't trust the oven would get hot enough).

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Dolphin of Leith

Here is a short clip of our friends on Dolphin of Leith leaving Mt. Hartman Bay, Grenada on their way, ultimately to New Zealand.  Dolphin is a 108 year old, 28 foot, gaff rigged cutter.  Wooden hull, of course.  Dolphin is home to a family of four, who started their journey in the UK.  Dad, Ian, was raised on the boat and at the age of 3, sailed to South Africa.  His son, Finn, is 3, and his daughter, Petra, is 21 months.  The connection with New Zealand is that mom, Vicky, is a Kiwi.  Dolphin has crossed the Atlantic 5 times now.

We had a wonderful time connecting with Dolphin during their short visit here.  The kids were all in school at Miss Patty's, and the adults shared an wonderful historical tour of the island.  We hope to reconnect with Dolphin in Panama, if all goes well.  (And, who knows, perhaps we will visit them in New Zealand as well.)

Saturday, October 13, 2012

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Blogging (Or Why You Haven’t Heard Much From Us Out Here)

I’ve been thinking a lot recently about why I’ve blogged so little out here.  I mean, this is the “trip of a lifetime,” right?  And we’re having a grand adventure, living on a sailboat in the Caribbean, right?  So why are we not writing about it more?

Best I can tell, three reasons.

First, until about one month ago, when we installed a wifi amplifier antenna, we had very, very limited access to the internet.  Basically, we could get a signal if we went to shore and bought something at a restaurant or bar.  But that really didn’t pan out so well for blogging, because we would have just enough time to check email for super high priority items and then have to leave (see #2 below).  Of course, we could have written posts offline and then posted once we got to the applicable bar/restaurant, but please see #2 below.
Second, we are very busy – I think we are often as busy out here as we were back home.  There is the boat and her systems to care for (electrical, water maker, refrigeration, outboard, heads…), which is AT ITS VERY, VERY BEST a very full part-time job.  Then there are the kids.  What we’ve discovered is that, at least on the boat, our kids require our direct attention/supervision/redirection/encouragement a HUGE portion of any 12-14 hour day. 
Third, I realized at some point out here that I wasn’t very interested in writing because it felt good to give my Left Brain a holiday.  My Left Brain isn’t so good at taking holidays (or really any kind of break from its 24/7 highly attentive self), and I didn’t want to spoil the fun that I and the rest of my brain was having by bringing it online unnecessarily.  And how does that tie into blogging?  As I mulled the lack of blog posts, I realized that I had this idea about what a blog was supposed to be: pithy, well-written, clever, insightful, poignant, etc.  Oh, and it should give readers an accurate insight into what it’s like to be cruising.  And all of those requirements would definitely cause the LB to crash the RB’s good time out here.

So after all that Left Brain analysis of why I’m not blogging much, I’m going to try to start blogging more.  That should be easier for the rest of our time here in Grenada (about one month) since we have good wifi and the kids are at school.   And I’m going to try to keep the Left Brain a bit less involved in the posts so that there might be more.  So watch out, there might be pictures without captions.  Or uncorrected typos.  Oh my.

And here is your Random Shot of the Day.  Taken a while back in the Bahamas, but a pretty good shot nonetheless.